Marmite politicians, calling out Islamists, unserious poscasters, 'performance art politics', PR and the partiality of civil servants, competence and why union is better than disunion
Thanks for a thoughtful commentary. The results is sort of fair in a perverse way. Labour have their win and can stand or fall on their record, pulled this way and that way placating the mob and the markets. The Tories are humiliated and not quite wiped out and can rebuild or disappear as Reform take over. Reform are in parliament but need to prove their worth. And the LibDems are the ornamental part of the constitution and will struggle to be simultaneously pro development and anti development. The next few years will be more chaotic and divisive. There’s a chance for the right to regroup if it holds its nerve and finds a balance between conviction, common sense and optimism. I expect a lot of young people will realise that left wing policies and mass migration have priced their futures away.
I disagree on the matter of perception of competence. All of the reasons why people ditched Conservative for Reform can be measured. Immigration is up, no-one is in Rwanda, taxes are higher than Blair, the NHS has had no reform. Wokeness is perhaps hard to measure, but I can point to Theresa May forcing companies to publish gender pay gap statistics off the top of my head, or how police forces are harassing people for the non-crime of giving their opinion of what a woman is, to no action from any Home Secretary (call me old fashioned, but I think police officers should focus on what are actual crimes, not things they don't like that are not).
I also take issue with my former MP, Robert Buckland, because the odd op-ed or disloyal ex-minister is not the problem. It's about delivering to Conservative voters what they want. I've been saying since 2008 and the election of Cameron, that it's the wrong direction, and 2010, 2016, generally mediocre election results were the warnings.
If the Conservatives don't fix this, and fix it properly, and somehow generate a level of trust in the voters then it'll be even worse for them next time.
Thanks for a thoughtful commentary. The results is sort of fair in a perverse way. Labour have their win and can stand or fall on their record, pulled this way and that way placating the mob and the markets. The Tories are humiliated and not quite wiped out and can rebuild or disappear as Reform take over. Reform are in parliament but need to prove their worth. And the LibDems are the ornamental part of the constitution and will struggle to be simultaneously pro development and anti development. The next few years will be more chaotic and divisive. There’s a chance for the right to regroup if it holds its nerve and finds a balance between conviction, common sense and optimism. I expect a lot of young people will realise that left wing policies and mass migration have priced their futures away.
I disagree on the matter of perception of competence. All of the reasons why people ditched Conservative for Reform can be measured. Immigration is up, no-one is in Rwanda, taxes are higher than Blair, the NHS has had no reform. Wokeness is perhaps hard to measure, but I can point to Theresa May forcing companies to publish gender pay gap statistics off the top of my head, or how police forces are harassing people for the non-crime of giving their opinion of what a woman is, to no action from any Home Secretary (call me old fashioned, but I think police officers should focus on what are actual crimes, not things they don't like that are not).
I also take issue with my former MP, Robert Buckland, because the odd op-ed or disloyal ex-minister is not the problem. It's about delivering to Conservative voters what they want. I've been saying since 2008 and the election of Cameron, that it's the wrong direction, and 2010, 2016, generally mediocre election results were the warnings.
If the Conservatives don't fix this, and fix it properly, and somehow generate a level of trust in the voters then it'll be even worse for them next time.
Did you see John McTernan's blueprint for Labour Britain thing in the Critic? Genuinely disturbing: https://thecritic.co.uk/five-rules-for-governing/
This is a really insightful writing I loved it.